The Horseman's Son

by Delores Fossen

  “I’m a cop,” she reminded him. “Let me up so I can see if I can spot any evidence.”

  He did, reluctantly. “Stay low,” he warned. “If someone’s out there, he could be armed.”

  That didn’t do much to steady her breathing or heart rate.

  While Dylan kept his gun aimed and ready, Collena did a visual search of the immediate area. There were trees, most of them bare from the winter, but there was also a thick clump of massive live oaks, complete with thick branches and green leaves. They completely obscured the view of the ranch. It was the main reason she’d chosen the spot, so that her car wouldn’t be seen when she parked it.

  Those trees could now be hiding an arsonist.

  But who would do something like this?

  One answer immediately came to mind. Curtis Reese, Sean’s father. Collena hadn’t told him that she’d found Adam, but with Curtis’s resources, he could have learned that information. Maybe this was his way of warning her not to try to keep Adam from him.

  But that’s exactly what she was going to do.

  “See anything?” Dylan asked.

  “It’s what I don’t see that bothers me. There are no other tire tracks that lead directly to my vehicle.”

  “Yeah, I noticed that.”

  She turned her head, and their gazes met. There was plenty of concern in the depths of his green eyes. “The snow might have covered the tracks,” she said.

  His attention drifted toward those live oaks. “Or someone could have taken this path. Or that one,” he said, shifting his focus to the other side of the road where the bare trees were.

  He was right, of course. There was another dirt road less than a quarter of a mile away, and it paralleled this one. Someone could have parked there and walked over. Too bad the snow would almost certainly wipe out any tracks there.

  “We need to get out of here,” Dylan announced.

  Collena glanced at her car and saw why. The flames were even higher now. If the gas tank blew, they were a safe enough distance away, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t get pelted with debris.

  Dylan began to drive in reverse down the road. He took it slowly to avoid slipping into the ditch. If an arsonist was truly still around, Collena didn’t want them to be in the woods on foot.

  “Both my sister, Abigail, and fiancée, Julie, died in car accidents where fires were involved,” he mumbled.

  “You think this is related to their murders?” she asked.

  A muscle flickered in his jaw. “No one was ever arrested. In fact, the police ruled them accidents. But in both cases, the cars caught fire and that caused the accidents and their deaths. Neither was able to get out alive.”

  “But why would whoever killed them want to set fire to my car?”

  Collena was certain he would dismiss any connection. Just as he’d dismissed the danger earlier.

  However, he didn’t dismiss it now.

  “Most of the women I’ve been personally involved with have encountered some kind of violence.”

  “Excuse me?” And Collena held her breath.

  “You heard me,” he snapped. His posture and tone became defensive. “That’s why I’ve sworn off having a relationship, and it’s the reason I adopted a son and not a daughter.”

  She shook her head. “But Adam—”

  “There hasn’t been an incident since I adopted him.”

  Collena pointed to the fire. “What about my car? You don’t think that’s an incident?”

  “That might not be related to the other fires.” And he didn’t add anything else, as if waiting for her to confirm or deny it.

  Sweet heaven, she couldn’t.

  Dylan finally made it to the end of the dirt path and turned onto the main road that would take them back to the ranch.

  “Now you understand why I can’t consider your marriage proposal,” he continued. “Though my past is only one of many objections I have.”

  Collena understood. In fact, his past terrified her. But not as much as the alternative of losing Adam. “We might both lose custody if we don’t work together.”

  “Working together,” he repeated. “I’ll give you that. But marriage is out.”

  Not being married to Dylan would put a serious wrinkle in her plans. Besides, this fire might not have anything to do with his past or with Sean’s father. “Maybe this was some kind of prank. Kids are out of school for Thanksgiving. Maybe someone was bored and decided to light a match.”

  Dylan didn’t answer right away. “Maybe.”

  Collena released the breath she’d been holding and hoped they weren’t deluding themselves.

  Individually, they both had some old baggage, but she hoped that it wouldn’t surface. Above all, she had to do whatever was necessary to keep Adam safe. And if that meant taking her son and fleeing, she would.

  But she also knew an action like that would heavily impact her little boy. After all, she’d be taking her child from the only parent Adam had ever known.

  That was the very thing Collena was trying to avoid.

  While they sat in silence, Dylan drove through the gates to the ranch. There was still no sight or sound of the fire truck. Of course, it was winter, and the weather wasn’t cooperating. Her car was gone, as was everything inside it—including the copies of the documents to prove she was Adam’s mother. The only thing left for the fire department to do was tell them how the fire had started.

  And then the sheriff could maybe determine who had started it.

  Dylan had been with her the entire time, so she knew he wasn’t the culprit. Besides, this wasn’t his approach to things. He wouldn’t have set fire to a car to destroy documents or to intimidate her.

  He was a face-to-face kind of man.

  “I have a visitor,” Dylan commented.

  Collena picked through the other vehicles that were near the house and spotted a black luxury car parked in the circular driveway in front. She didn’t recognize the car, but she had no trouble recognizing the tall dark-haired man who was pounding on Dylan’s front door.

  “Oh, God,” Collena mumbled.

  “You know him?” Dylan asked, firing an accusatory glance at her.

  She nodded. “Yes. That’s Curtis Reese, Adam’s biological grandfather. He’s probably here to try to take him.”

  WELL, THIS WAS SHAPING UP to be the day from hell.

  Dylan braked to a halt directly in front of the house and barreled out of his truck. He was not going to let Curtis Reese anywhere near Adam.

  “I’m sorry,” he heard Collena say. “I didn’t know he’d follow me.”

  Dylan didn’t take the time to respond to that. Besides, what could he say? He certainly wasn’t going to give her a pass.

  Yesterday, his life was as close to perfect as it could get, and now mere hours later, things were tumbling down around him.

  In the distance Dylan heard the fire sirens, but he focused his attention on the man trying to beat down his front door. Dylan kept his gun gripped in his hand, and he started up the porch steps.

  His visitor whirled around with his tight fist still high in the air. Dylan didn’t raise his gun. He didn’t issue any threats. He just stared at the man, daring him to use that fist in any way.

  Curtis Reese stared back at him.

  When Collena had first told him that this was Adam’s biological grandfather, Dylan had expected someone who looked like a grandparent. Curtis Reese didn’t. Dylan figured he had to be at least in his early fifties, but he looked much younger. There wasn’t a strand of gray in his dark brown hair. The man was at least six-four, and he had a muscular build that his Italian cashmere suit didn’t hide. And Curtis Reese had a formidable expression on his wrinkle-free face.

  “I’m here to see my grandson,” Curtis announced.

  “Then you’ve wasted your time,” Dylan shot back.

  Curtis looked past him, and his equally formidable granite-gray eyes landed on Collena. “Did you think you could hide my own flesh and
blood from me?”

  “For a while.” Collena took the steps slowly, and Dylan hoped she wasn’t having another dizzy spell. “It’s Thanksgiving, Curtis. Go home and give me a chance to work things out with Mr. Greer.”

  “What you really want is time to figure out how to steal him from me.”

  Collena shook her head and slipped her gun into her coat pocket. “I don’t have to steal him. You have no right to Adam.”

  “And this conversation is over,” Dylan intervened.

  Curtis’s gaze snapped back to Dylan. “It’s not over. I know what Collena’s trying to do. She’ll try to make a pact with you to stop me from getting custody. Well, you should know that Collena Drake isn’t fit to be a mother. Her own mother was a drug addict and prostitute—did she tell you that?”

  Dylan shrugged. “It didn’t come up in conversation. Now, are you leaving voluntarily, or do I need to help you to your car?”

  “I’m not going until I make you understand what an unsuitable mother she is. It’s her fault that she was at Brighton, and it’s her fault that Adam was stolen. She took a deep-cover assignment while she was pregnant. Something bad could have happened there. And it did. She endangered herself and therefore her baby. I think I can convince a judge that what she did can be construed as child endangerment.”

  Dylan tried not to react to that, mainly because coming from Curtis, it could be a lie. But then he glanced at Collena. He didn’t think it was his imagination that she was even paler now than when he’d first seen her. Later, after Curtis was off the grounds, they would obviously have to discuss this latest allegation.

  “Adam’s in danger,” Curtis said, his voice strained with emotion. “And it’s all Collena’s fault.” He volleyed glances between them. “Did you know that Rodney Harmon escaped from jail last night?”

  Collena actually dropped back a step, and Dylan caught her arm so that she wouldn’t fall on the slippery porch. He’d never heard the name Rodney Harmon, but he figured soon he’d know why the man had caused Collena to have that kind of reaction.

  “Harmon will come after you again,” Curtis warned Collena. “And if you’re near Adam, he’ll come after him, too. You shouldn’t be within a hundred miles of that baby.”

  Collena glanced at Dylan and stepped out of his grip. “Rodney Harmon is the man I helped arrest and put into prison. He was one of the security guards at Brighton. And among other things, he was responsible for…stopping me from going after the doctor who stole Adam.”

  He didn’t have to guess how the guy had stopped her. Dylan had a strange gut reaction to that realization. He wanted to pound the guy to dust because he’d attacked a vulnerable woman who’d just given birth. And why? All so someone could steal her infant son and sell him.

  But Dylan had lived the flip side of Rodney Harmon’s diabolical plan. He’d adopted the baby that Rodney had helped steal. Dylan couldn’t regret that. Ever. But he could regret the pain Collena had gone through.

  But maybe that could be overshadowed by Curtis’s other allegation. That Collena was responsible for what had happened.

  Had Collena assisted Rodney in some way?

  Since there was obviously a lot of new issues to discuss, Dylan chose the one that could cause the most serious and immediate problems. “Why would this Harmon guy come after you?” Dylan asked Collena. “Weren’t there dozens of cops who helped put him away? Why single you out?”

  Collena looked him straight in the eye when she answered. “He blamed me personally for his arrest because I was the only one who was able to identify him. And I testified against him during his trial.”

  Hell.

  So, there was a new threat—a serious one. And if Harmon had escaped the night before, he could have been the one to set fire to Collena’s car. But that was a stretch, since Harmon would have first had to know where Collena was and then follow her.

  Still, it wasn’t impossible.

  But Harmon was a threat Dylan would have to deal with later. Right now, he had to get Curtis off his porch and far away from Adam.

  “Look, I have zero patience for you and this visit, especially today,” Dylan told Curtis. “Have your lawyer contact my lawyer, and stay away from anything that’s mine. And right now, Adam is mine.”

  “This isn’t over,” Curtis insisted, though he did proceed down the steps. “One way or another, I will get my grandson. There’s not a judge anywhere in the world that will give Collena custody. Nor you, Dylan Greer.”

  That did not sound like an idle remark. “Been digging up dirt on me, too?” Dylan calmly asked.

  Curtis caught the door handle of his car, but he didn’t get in. “You bet I have.” The man smiled. “That’s some dark cloud you got hanging over you. Two women are dead. Others are psychologically scarred for life. It could happen again. And I’m going to use anything I can to get custody of Adam.”

  With that threat still lingering in the freezing air, Curtis got in his car and slammed the door. Dylan and Collena watched as he sped away, kicking up a spray of snow, dirt and ice. The back end of the car fishtailed on the slick surface, but Curtis continued to speed out through the gates.

  “Why don’t you come in?” Dylan invited Collena. He took hold of her arm to make her realize this wasn’t an invitation she could turn down. “You have some things to explain.”

  Chapter Five

  Collena had hoped to tell Dylan about her past in her own way and on her own terms. She didn’t want to have the conversation on Thanksgiving before he’d had a chance to consider her offer of marriage.

  But it was obvious this couldn’t wait.

  He opened the front door, and they stepped back into the warm house. Dylan immediately locked it. Double locks, then he set the security system before he led her in the direction of his office.

  They weren’t alone in the house. Ruth, the nanny, and a younger auburn-haired woman peered out at her from what appeared to be the family room. There was no sign of Adam, but since Collena had run a brief background check on the staff, she figured the younger woman was probably Millie, Ruth’s daughter who’d been raised at Dylan’s estate.

  There was a lot of disapproval in the women’s expressions.

  It matched the disapproval in Dylan’s.

  Oh, yes. She had some explaining to do. However, before she could even begin, her cell phone rang. After one glance at the caller-ID screen, Collena knew it was a call she had to take.

  “I won’t be long,” she told Dylan, who walked into his office ahead of her.

  He gave a look that conveyed she’d better not. He practically ripped off his jacket, shoved it into the closet and dropped down into the chair behind his desk.

  Because the two women were still lurking nearby, Collena stepped inside Dylan’s office, as well, and closed the door. It was a matter of picking her poison—she’d rather have Dylan overhear this particular conversation than his staff. Besides, she apparently didn’t have anything else to hide. Curtis had already spilled the unsavory details of her life to Dylan.

  “Collena,” the caller greeted. It was Sgt. Katelyn O’Malley from the San Antonio PD.

  And Collena was almost certain what this call was about.

  “Rodney Harmon escaped from jail last night,” Katelyn confirmed. “We’re doing everything we can to locate him and put him back behind bars.”

  So, it was true. Curtis hadn’t been lying after all. And this added a new wrinkle. “Yes. I heard about the escape. From Curtis Reese. He came to Dylan Greer’s ranch a couple of minutes ago.”

  She risked looking at Dylan, knowing what she would see. She was right. He was glaring at her. And waiting.

  “So, Curtis knows that you found Adam?” Katelyn verified. “What about Dylan—how’d he take the news when you told him who you were?”

  “We’re still dealing with that. Can I call you back, Katelyn? I’m in the middle of something here.”

  “I’ll bet you are. I’ll check for updates on Harmon, and I�
�ll also try to find out if Curtis Reese is planning to hang around the town of Greer for a while. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  Collena assured her that she would, thanked her old friend and ended the call.

  “Talk fast,” Dylan insisted. “It won’t be long before the fire department arrives.”

  Yes, judging from the sound of the sirens, they were already by her car. Soon, they’d come to the house to do interviews and a report.

  “Everything Curtis Reese said about me is true,” Collena confirmed.

  Judging from the way Dylan stared at her, he hadn’t expected that answer.

  “My mother was a drug addict, and before she walked out on me, she occasionally turned tricks to pay for her drug habit.” She slipped off her coat and eased it onto the back of the chair. “And, yes, Rodney Harmon will probably try to kill me if the police don’t find him before he finds me.”

  “What about the part about it being your fault that Adam was stolen?” Dylan asked.

  Collena decided it was a good time to sit. She took the chair across from him. She also took a deep breath and prayed she could explain this without crying. This was painful enough with adding the humiliation of tears.

  “When I was pregnant, I was working Special Investigations for SAPD. We got reports about irregularities at the Brighton Birthing Center, but it was out of our jurisdiction. The local sheriff didn’t have the manpower or the experience to handle it so he requested our assistance. Since I was pregnant, I went in undercover. Not at Brighton. But at a nearby home for unwed mothers where I would have daily access to the birthing center. We’d had reports that Brighton officials were pressuring and even coercing these young women into giving up their babies.”

  “That still sounds dangerous.” His eyebrows lifted.

  “It was. It was also stupid.”

  Dylan shook his head. “Then why’d you do it?”

  Ah, he’d cut to the chase. “Because my boss asked me to, and I thought I could handle the situation. I thought I could stop what was happening to those young women at Brighton.”

  His mouth flattened into a thin line. “You put the job ahead of your pregnancy?”